Vapor electric device.



E.: WEIN'TRAUB. VAPOR ELECTRIC DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED APB. 3,' 1911.

o ma v` Am ,w Mu rt. t t lo.m t .0m DW S dn el me m ,9. Lm y UmTED SUT-AT EmPl-YEEN um nzncnmr.. WEINTRAB, or LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, AssreNon To GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION or NEW-YORK.

VAPOR ELECTRIC DEVlCE.

Specification of letters Patent.

Patented Got. 14, 1913.

iii-all who/m, t may concern Be. it known that -I,` EZECHIEL WEIN.-

rTRAUB, a citizeny of the United States, residing at Lynn, county of Essex, State O f Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in IVapoflillectric Devices, of which the following is a specilication.

My invention relates to vapor electric de vices, such as mercury 'vapor lamps, and particularly to a type of mercury vapor device described in my previousPatent #917,212, iii-which an arc plays in'an inner envelop .ofkquartz or other! refractory materia-l. Its

principal object is to provide a container which is simple in structure and which can' construction of the device which provides that the mercury or other electrode material outside of the inner tube recedes out of electrical connectionl with the leading-in conducJ tor when 'the device'is tilted before it comes in contact with the other leading-in wire as the mercury flows from one electrodeto an- Therefore, when the devicel is tilted buck to its originalv position, the arc will infvln'iably be struck through the inner Atube iilasm'uch as no circuit is ever established by the mercury outside the same. Another feature of construction makes provision for readily starting the device.

Figure 1 in the accompanying drawing is af longitudinal section of the mercury arc lamp/.having mercury electrodes and constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2' is a cross-sectional yiew taken von the 1ine2#2 Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional viewl of a* lamp having an inner tube of slightly modified shape; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sec- 'tion` of a lamp'having a mercury cathode and a solid anode; Fig. 5 is a cross-section taken on the line 55; Fig. 6 is a longitudinalssection of a modified construction, Fig. 7-y the vcorresponding sectional view;

Fi'gz' i's a diagram of electgical connections 'Bor the tilting mechanism and Fig-9 illus` trates'a modied form of lamp.

Referring to Fig.' 1 the outer 'I t ntainer 11 -ensists of transparent materie-l asglass ari/diA yother electrode. -theypossibility of the completion of the elecis provided with an inner envelop 2 of quartz or other highly refractory, transparent or.

translucent material. Openings are providedin the inner tube in order to .allow the same to be easily evacuated, and to permit the return of vaporized electrode material. These openings inFig. 1 are represented -by Vthe lopenings in the electrode chambers and the yopening indicated'at 3. As indicated Iin the drawing each end of the device is bent at an angle so as jto form pockets for bodiesof mercury forming the electrodes. of the device. lContact is made with the body of mer-l cury .forming cathode l by means of achain 5 of platinum, tungsten or other heavymetal which does not readily alloy with mercury. Then the' device is assembled this chain is slipped through the opening 6 in the cathode chamber. Its flexibility insures electriv cal contactat all times'with the mercury.

Contact is made at the anode end by meansv of the platinum wire 7 projecting into the body of mercury 8 through a rentrant portion fof the quartz envelop, ,thereby insuring hatthe arc will at all times be struck with the 4mercury and not run to the platinum wire.

The space intervening between, the inner and outer envelop is so proportioned, and the openings in the inner tube are so positioned that when the tube is tilted to start the arc by lap}`g ropriate mechanism, that a portion ofthe wall of the inner' tube will break the continuity of the electrical-circuit.

of the receding body of mercury outsidel the inner envelop and the adjoining electrode 'before the mercury stream flowing 'outside the tube has come into contact with the This construction -avoids trical circuit by the mercury outside the inner tube. The mercury inside the tube, however, does complete the electrical circuit when thetube is tilted. As the tube is tilted back the interruption of the circuit' starts the arc. The arc a; short time after is started ceases to fill the entire space .within the inner tube and concentrates itself at its center, .taking upperhaps one-third to onehalfl of the cross-section of the tube.

havediscovered that when part of2 the 'g inner tube is made V-shaped in cross-section,

the' arc will. continue to pass through the i canister of the tube. The position ofthe are will not tend to be depnmed by the groove provided by this construction.- I have taken advantage of this fact by shaping the tube as shown, :tor example, in the cross sectional views Figs. 2 and 3, with a groove or trough along its lower side to facilitate the {iow of mercury within the tube from one electrode tothe other. lt will be observed that this construction lowers the path of mercury flow while still retaining the central position of the arc within the device. Consequently it is necessary to raise the mercury level at electrode 4 only a very little to cause the mercury to flow along the groove to the other electrode. Briefly, this construction is accompanied with theY advantage of requiring but ay veryl slight tilt to start the arc without allowing the latter', when fully establishedto overheat the lower part of the outer glass tube as would be the case if a round inner tube were merely lowered, or placed closer to the lower surface of the "outer-'tube Spacing offsets 9 support thel tube 2 and keep it out of contact with-the outer glass tube 1. y It will be observed that the construction of my improved form 'of device renders the' starting of the arc inside the quartz tube easy and certain andv precludes the possibility of thestarting or' the arc outside the same.v

The 'construction shown in Fig. L1 is very similar to the construct-ion already described in connection with Fig. 1 except that in this case theclamp is provided with a solid anode 10. The-construction of the cathode endl-of the lamp is similar to that already described in connectionwith Fig. l. rihe lamp may be provided with a platinum wire leading-in conductor 11 instead of the small' chain shown in Fig. 1. The leadin'gein conductor 12 atfthe anode end making contact with electrode 10j is sealed-into the glass wall of the outer envelop and extends through the quartz envelop 2. It may be` surrounded as a special precaution by a small quartz tube 13. However, even when thus surrounded, a very small portion of the leading-in wire would be exposed at the joint, and there is some danger of the'arc y forming between the wire asanode and the mercury in the annular space outside the inner envelop unless provision were made in the construction of the device as already described above, for breaking electrical contact between the mercury in this annular space and the source of current when the tube isftilted. The inner tube is likewise provided with a depressed trough as already described and as more clearly shown in Fig. 5. The anode 10 may be provided near Vits end by an annular 1e in order to facili tate properl Contact between it and the stream of mercury flowing toward the anode when the lamp is started. rlhe anode chamf Leraars ber is pfovided with an opening 15 for the purpose of exhausting the tube and as a pressure equalizing means.

`The construction of Fig. fis in` most respects similar to that already described in connection with Figs. v1 and 1, but the construction at the anode end of the lamp is Somewhat simpler inasmuch as. an open ended tube is used dipping into the mercury, contact with which is made at the lower end by means of a wire 16. While this form of lamp has not been shown asfprovided with the depressed trough or groove in the inner tube through which the mercury may flow, its construction in otherrespccts is similar to that already described inasmuch as the lamp is so constructed that the mercury in the annular space outside the quartz tube will break electrical connection with the leading-in wire when. the tube is tilted bctore contact is made by the body'o mercury with the coperating electrode.

Fig. 8 illustrates a suitable scheine of electrical connection for starting a lamp as described. The cathodeI and anode are connected respectively by conductors 18 and 19 to a suitable source of direct current. A resistance 20, andif desired a vreact-ance 21, is permanently connected in series with the device and acts as aballast. Before the device is started a complete circuit is obtained. through the conductor 18, lthe solenoid 22 and the conductors 23 and 19. When the switch is closed, the solenoid 22 is energized and draws up its core 24: which is linked in a suitable manner to the pivoted frame 25 of the lamp. The lamp is tilted by rotation about its pivoted supportl 26 causing the vmercury from the cathode reservoir to flow and strike an arc within the inner tube as already described above. As long as the lamp is running the core of the solenoid 2T remains pulled up but if for any reason the lamp goes out' the core ie'establishes the circuit of solenoid 22 and the starting operation as above described is repeated.

The form of lamp shown in Fig. 9 is provided in the same manner with an outer envelop 1 and an inner envelop 2 maintained suitably spaced. It is provided with a mercury cathode 4 and a solid anode 10 simi `arly to the lamp shown in Fig. l1. In this case, however, the lampis shown as being started by the well-known auxiliary are or .side

branch method. Ansmall hddy of mercury 11,39

Q8 contained in a Side chambenor pocket isl manner a potential is impressed vupon thel main anode 10 andl cathode 4. and a side branch arc is struck between the auxiliary anode 28 and cathode 4 by shaking the tube, the main arc is started bythe ionization of the space. In this case in order to avoid the strikin of the arc at the small exposed portion of the leading-in wire at ,the junction of the glass wall of the outer envelop and a l5 quartz ,wall of the inner envelop, a packing of. small silic'a lpieces o r other refractory material 29 is provided maintained in position around the anode` stem by the quartz plate 30 resting upon the top of the inner zo tube. l l

What I claim as vnew' and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is,-.

Q 1. In a mercury vaporv device, an outer envelop, an open and inner envelop, cop- 25 erating electrodes, at least one of which projects into the inner envelop, means for tiltf ing the device to strike an arc between. said electrodes, and means at one of the yelectrodes for preventing vthe arc from being started in the space between the inner and outer envelops. I

2. In a vapor electric device, an outer en- Velop, an inner tube in communication there- `with, an anode and a liquid cathode there- `g-xfoigfthe inner envelop being constructed at .aj-onefor both of its ends to form an insulating "barrier when the tube is tilted to break the f continuity of the electric circuit through the liquidl outside the inner tube at one electrode beforecontact is established with the other electrode by the lstream of flowing liquid. In a vapor electric device, coperating electrodes, one at least of which is mercury, a double-walled rece tacle, one end at least of which extends ownwardly to form a pocket 'for the mercury electrode and leading-in conductors for said electrodes, the conductor at the mercury electrode project- .ing through an opening in the inner wall through which the mercury bodies 4 inside and outside the wall are in communication,

the upwardly extending end portion of saidv inner wall forming a barrier to interrupt electrical contact when thedevice is tilted of the outer body of mercury before contact is established by the mercury stream with a cooperating electrode.

4. In a vapor electric device, an outer` envelop, an open envelop inclo'sed thereby, cooperating electrodes, at least one of which consists of mercury for the inner envelop, leading-in conductors therefor, the space intervenmg between the two envelops being proportioned at a mercury electrode sothat when the tube is tilted the mercury in the intervening space l will break electric contact with the leading-in conductor before electrical contact is made with an `electrode of Iopposite polarity.

' 5. In a mercury vapor device, an outer envelop, an inner tube located therein and lspaced apart therefrom, electrodes therefor nel at the bottom through lwhich mercury l may flow.

6. In a vapor electric device, an evacuated inclosing envelop, an open inner arcinclosing enveloptherein, a mercury electrode in said inner envelop-communicatlng with the space intervening between said envelops, and means at the electrode'for preventing an arc from starting in the lntervening space. f

In witness whereof, I have hereunto yset myhand this 31st day of March, 1911.A

EZECHIEL WEINTRAUB. 

